It’s official, Nico Hülkenberg loses his second place on the grid in Canada amongst a raft of penalties dished out for the Canadian Grand Prix after qualifying on Saturday.
Having qualifying second on the grid at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday, Germany’s Nico Hülkenberg received a penalty that forced him to drop back three positions.
Hulkenberg grid drop
Following the Canadian Grand Prix, the race stewards have found Haas driver, Nico Hülkenberg, guilty of breaching article 37.6 of the Formula 1 sporting regulations. Hülkenberg failed to adhere to the minimum time set by race direction when a red flag was waved on the track.
Consequently, Hülkenberg will be subjected to a three-position grid penalty for the next race, pushing him back to fifth place on the starting grid. As a result of this penalty, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and George Russell will each move up one position.
In addition to the grid penalty, Hülkenberg will also receive a penalty point on his superlicence, bringing his total tally to three points accumulated over a twelve-month period.
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Tsunoda and Stroll handed grid penalties
Yuki Tsunoda, the driver for AlphaTauri, faced a grid penalty following his involvement in impeding Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg.
The race stewards attributed the blocking incident of Nico Hülkenberg’s car at Turn 10 during qualifying to the actions of Yuki Tsunoda. Consequently, Tsunoda received a three-place grid penalty for the upcoming race in Montreal.
Starting from the sixteenth position initially, Tsunoda will now have to begin the race from the second-to-last position on Sunday. However, his penalty resulted in Pierre Gasly, Nyck de Vries, and Guanyu Zhou gaining one grid position each for the Canadian Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, in the Aston Martin camp, Canadian driver Lance Stroll also faced a three-position grid penalty in Montreal. The stewards accused Stroll of impeding the race of Esteban Ocon, the Alpine driver, during qualifying at Turn 8.
Having qualified thirteenth, Stroll will now start from sixteenth on the grid for Sunday’s race. His penalty allowed Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, and Valtteri Bottas to each move up one position.
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Carlos Sainz penalised
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has also been handed a grid penalty after getting in the way of Frenchman Pierre Gasly in Q1 in Montreal.
Sainz’s Ferrari was in the way just before the final corner of the Gilles Villeneuve circuit, as Frenchman Pierre Gasly arrived at full speed in a last-ditch attempt to advance to Q2. Seeing Sainz’s Ferrari in the middle of the track, Gasly had no choice but to take his foot off the pedal and go wide, so he was eliminated from Q1 and will start from seventeenth place on Sunday.
Immediately under investigation, Carlos Sainz – who qualified eighth – received a three-position grid penalty for his mistake, which means that the Spaniard will start from eleventh place on Sunday.
This penalty allows his team-mate Charles Leclerc to move up one place to tenth, while Alex Albon will start from ninth and Oscar Piastri from eighth.
After the qualifying session, Frenchman Pierre Gasly made no secret of his anger on Canal+ the French TV station, even if it is true that the penalty imposed on Sainz will not give him back the top ten position he was aiming for on his fast lap.
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Williams fined €10,000
And finally during free practice session in Montreal, the Williams team incurred a fine due to a violation of FIA sporting regulations.
The race stewards found fault with Williams for their failure to physically return the tyres on the cars of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant to tyre supplier Pirelli before the start of qualifying, as mandated by the regulations.
Consequently, Williams has been issued a fine of €10,000 for this infraction. The team has the option to appeal the decision, although it appears unlikely. It is important to note that the stewards’ rulings are independent of the FIA and are solely based on the regulations, guidelines, and evidence presented.
In the qualifying session on Saturday, Williams driver Alexander Albon secured the tenth position on the starting grid for the Canadian Grand Prix. On the other hand, his teammate Logan Sargeant will commence the race from the penultimate position on Sunday.
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